Goals Soccer trading in line; sales drop

Goals Soccer said on Thursday that trading for the year was in line with its revised expectations, as it reported a drop in total sales.

In an update for the year to the end of December, the five-a-side football operator said trading was in line with the revised market expectations set out in the November, when the company said it anticipated pre-tax profit for the year to be between £8.2m and £8.6m.

This was down from a range of £9.3m to £9.8m set out at the interims, causing the shares to plunge after the announcement.

Sales for the year fell to £32.9m from £34.7m in 2014, with UK like-for-like sales down 7%.

“Our US business has again delivered strong growth with sales for the year up 9%. Keith Rogers will relocate to the US to become President of the US business in February 2016. A search for a new group chief executive is underway.”

At 1524 GMT, Goals shares were down 5.5% to 137p.